Aug. 9—With the season less than three weeks away, the Lobos hit the double-digit mark.
New Mexico held its 10th practice of fall camp Saturday, one that saw the offense strike back after struggling through Thursday’s scrimmage.
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Observations, notes and news from Saturday:
Saturday’s practice
Thursday’s scrimmage was a resounding win for the defense, and nobody on the offensive side of the ball disagreed. Pinpointing why it was tilted so heavily towards the defense is another matter. Head coach Jason Eck felt the “tempo of the defense” was a little too fast for the offense, while at least one player felt his unit just didn’t have enough intensity from the jump.
“We just gotta be more aggressive,” offensive lineman Kaden Robnett said Saturday. “I felt we were doing our assignments right. … We were getting beat. Just losing.”
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Whatever the issue, the offense got a decent handle on it by Saturday. The defense didn’t get boat-raced by any stretch, but the offense ran the ball well and put up plenty of explosive plays; the type of response Eck was looking for.
“I told them I was happy with that, because they didn’t play well in the scrimmage,” Eck said Saturday. “And that’s what you want. One of our core values we talk about is toughness and responding when bad things happen, and I thought the offense had a good response today.”
Even a few on the defense liked the offense’s response: “It’s good to see that they’re not in a slump,” linebacker Dimitri Johnson said Saturday.
Some of the key highlights from Saturday’s team periods:
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-After the first team defense held its offensive counterparts to a field goal, wide receiver Zhaiel Smith took a reverse (as part of a trick play) about 25 yards into the end zone on the very next play. There’s a lot to like with Smith right now, and it’s really starting to show on a daily basis.
-On fourth-and-2, running back Damon Bankston almost got brought down at the line of scrimmage, stayed on his feet and popped through for a breakaway touchdown. There was, of course, plenty of chatter after.
“We run the rock,” quarterback Layne yelled to his teammates. “That’s what we do!”
-After a would-be touchdown slipped through his fingertips on an earlier drive, wide receiver Shawn Miller caught one over the top from quarterback James Laubstein to light up the offensive sideline. Miller didn’t have a big performance in the scrimmage, but he’s had a rock solid camp to this point.
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It was not all offense, however. For instance, safety Tavian Combs delivered one of the best plays of the day, coming over the middle to stop running back D.J. McKinney on fourth-and-short. Cornerback Jon Johnson also had a frankly ridiculous pass breakup on tight end Dorian Thomas, and linebacker Jaxton Eck made a heck of a play to stop Miller on third-and-goal, too.
But there was a healthy balance, a welcome sign with how well the defense has been playing lately. We’ll see how that develops over the next week or so.
News and notes
-Smith has probably been the most notable freshman to this point. But cornerback Jahmir Torres has had a string of good practices lately, including Thursday’s scrimmage. “He had a couple (plays where) he stuck his nose in there,” Eck said. “Which is something you worry about sometimes with young corners — are they gonna be physical enough? But I thought he played very well and he’s trending towards (being) a guy who’s gonna play.”
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Some other freshman Eck said the staff needs to give a “close look”: safeties C.J. McBean and Nick Wheeler, offensive lineman Jaymar Tasi and defensive end Cody Thumlert.
-Saturday’s injury report: wide receivers Keagan Johnson, Kader Diop, Isaiah Blair, Evan Wysong, cornerbacks Frankie Edwards III and Drew Speech and offensive lineman Tevin Shaw did not practice.
-Will Friday’s scrimmage format differ from Thursday’s? “It’ll be similar,” Eck said. “We’re probably not going to tackle our (first team) offense much more … We can rotate a bit. The one defense can go against the two offense to work on tackling things, just because I think tackling definitely benefits your defense, but I don’t think it necessarily benefits your offense.
“Our backs are good enough at breaking tackles. The risk-reward in trying to work that isn’t worth it. So, yeah, we’ll keep working some game decisions. One of these practices we’re gonna practice overtime; some things like that.”
